OFFSETTING CO2 EMISSIONS FROM OVERSEAS GROUPS’ VISITS TO JAPAN
It has been decided that Seicho-No-Ie offset the CO2 emissions resulting from two overseas groups’ visits to Japan during this movement year (March 2007-April 2008) to attend events held in Japan.
The two groups were a group of 43 people from the Republic of Taiwan who participated in the Group/Worship Spiritual Training Seminar held at the Main Temple in Nagasaki Prefecture from September 24 to 28; and the other was 165 people from Brazil who participated in the International Headquarters sponsored Portuguese Spiritual Training Seminar held at the Uji Temple in Uji City, Kyoto from October 26 to 28.
The CO2 amounts emitted from the movements from/to their countries were 12,749.5 kg for the Republic of China and 686,636.3 kg for Brazil. The offsets will be taken care of entirely by the Main Temple and Uji Temple, which held the events. However, the offsetting means is still undecided. As for the Uji Temple’s portion, “offset is urged.”
The acquisition of ISO14001 certification by overseas offices is yet to begin and the method of reduction in CO2 emissions is not yet established. The actual measures for the Zero Carbon Movement, which began from April 2007, were limited to Japan and the events involving overseas organizations were not included in the CO2 emission offset.
However, a large amount of CO2 emissions from these groups’ visits because of the movement of a large group by air transportation could not be overlooked. Therefore, it was decided to offset them separately.
The basic rule for the measures for the Zero Carbon Movement involving movements between countries is to be discussed in the future.